Femtosecond pulsed laser plasma deposition (fs-PLD) is a relatively new technique compared to its nanosecond pulsed counterpart. Technologically realized in a solid-state device in mid 90s, the fs-PLD is currently emerging as one of the promising technology in the field of thin film deposition due to the employment of femtosecond lasers. Depending on the repetition rate and pulse duration in a fs laser-matter interaction can be tuned to become either a hot process with heat diffusion or, a cold process due to the lack of a heat diffusion process and hence, the laser is used for the production of plasma plume and energetic ions in several other techniques such as ion implantation. Recent reports in the fs-PLD thin films are mainly based on crystalline and semiconductor materials. At the present time implantation at a scale of only a few tens of nanometer, otherwise known as sub-plantation, have been reported. We have found that implantation to a much larger depth is possible. This observation has the potential to produce new materials and structures which are otherwise impossible to fabricate. The unique possibility of implanting ions, such as rare earth ions opens new realm of photonic devices engineering with respect to site selective doping by masking, direct printing of photonic circuits, integrated optical amplifiers in novel materials, multiple sensors with integrated pump source and data readouts, possibility of single chip multi-sensor design, superlattice structures by multi-target deposition.
International patent application, publication number: WO 2011/030157 describes a method of applying a film to a substrate by ablating a target with radiation from a laser whereby a quantity of the target layer is deposited on the substrate. Skelland and Townsend (1995) Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 188, 243-253 describes ion-implantation into heated soda-lime glass substrates whereby the profile of the ions implanted shows a distinct peak with a gradual drop in ion density either side.